LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources Volume 6 Issue 1 Fall 2017 3-23-2018 Unaware, Unprepared, and Unexpectedly Flooded: Improving Louisiana's Capacity to Respond to Flood Hazards Niki L. Pace Repository Citation Niki L. Pace, Unaware, Unprepared, and Unexpectedly Flooded: Improving Louisiana's Capacity to Respond to Flood Hazards, 6 LSU J. of Energy L. & Resources (2018) Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/jelr/vol6/iss1/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at LSU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources by an authorized editor of LSU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Unaware, Unprepared, and Unexpectedly Flooded: Improving Louisiana’s Capacity to Respond to Flood Hazards Niki L. Pace INTRODUCTION Flooded property owners mourned together. “But I wasn’t in a flood zone,” they said. “But my property never flooded before.”“1 In August 2016, heavy rains drenched the Louisiana capital region, causing severe flooding.2 Rapidly rising waters overtook the property of many unsuspecting residents. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), over 91,000 households recorded verified losses, and a large number of homeowners lacked flood insurance to cover damages.3 As property owners grappled with the terrible loss of their homes, the aftermath of the flood revealed that many residents did not fully understand their relationship with water and the risk to their properties. While many of the flooded properties were not located in a “Special Flood Hazard Area” that requires flood insurance, flood insurance was available.4 The floods served as an unwelcome reminder that most individuals do not realize the actual risk of their property flooding. Sadly, these challenges are not unique to Louisiana. Across the country, the number of severe precipitation events causing flood damage is rising at Copyright 2017, by NIKI L. PACE. Research attorney at Louisiana Sea Grant Law and Policy Program, Louisiana State University. The author would like to thank James Wilkins and Melissa Daigle for their advice and feedback on this piece, as well as Morgan Ducote and Michael Heaton for their contributions. Research for this publication was supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, and by the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA or the U.S. Department of Commerce. 1. See Claire Taylor, Why are We Using Flood Insurance Maps from 1996?, THE ADVERTISER, Oct. 7, 2016, 7:01 PM, https://perma.cc/4BGG-FRQZ. 2. NAT’L WEATHER SERV., NAT’L OCEANIC &ATMOSPHERIC ADMIN., EXCEEDANCE PROBABILITY ANALYSIS FOR THE LOUISIANA RAINFALL EVENT, 11- 13 AUGUST 2016 (2016), https://perma.cc/4AMM-S54F. 3. S. Res. 172, 2017 Leg., Reg. Sess. (La. 2017); Letter from John Bel Edwards, Gov. of La., to Barack Obama, President of the U.S. (Oct. 20, 2016) (on file with author) (request for more disaster relief funding). 4. NAT’L WEATHER SERV., supra note 2. 122 LSU JOURNAL OF ENERGY LAW AND RESOURCES [Vol. VI unprecedented levels. Following Hurricane Matthew in October 2016, North Carolina experienced significant flooding.5 Houston, Texas suffered widespread flood damage in late August 2017 when Hurricane Harvey dumped fifty-two inches of rain along the Gulf region of Texas.6 Within a mere two weeks of Harvey, parts of Florida were inundated by Hurricane Irma, leaving the Florida Keys and downtown Miami underwater.7 Combined, the costs of damage from these two storms could reach $155 billion, close to the damage costs from Hurricane Katrina.8 According to climate change predictions, these severe precipitation events are likely to increase in frequency and intensity in coming years.9 This loss of life and property highlights the need for improved state and local government floodplain management strategies.10 Part I of this comment will examine the current flood risk in Louisiana. Next, Part II will outline existing mechanisms for floodplain management, with a Louisiana focus. Part III will provide a brief discussion of available remedies for flooded property owners. Lastly, Part IV will discuss broad recommendations for strengthening current floodplain management approaches. I. FLOOD RISKS IN LOUISIANA In August 2016, a low-pressure system dropped twenty-two to thirty- one inches of rain in two days across Louisiana’s capital region.11 Multi- day interstate closures led to transportation and economic disruption 5. Pam Wright, Flooding in North Carolina From Hurricane Matthew Incurs $1.5. Billion in Damage, Authorities Say,THE WEATHER CHANNEL (Oct. 16, 2016, 1:15 PM), https://perma.cc/AK6E-GYS4. 6. Hurricane Harvey has Damaged at Least $23 Billion of Property in Just Two Texas Counties,FORTUNE (Aug. 30, 2017), https://perma.cc/BBW3-U9GD. 7. Joey Flechas et al., Irma Hit Downtown Miami – and Turned its Biggest Streets into Rivers,THE MIAMI HERALD, Sept. 10, 2017, https://perma.cc/MY9E- QZZ7. 8. Julia Horowitz, The U.S. has been Hit by Two Giant Hurricanes. Here’s the Financial Toll,CNNMONEY (Sept. 11, 2017, 8:20 AM), https://perma.cc /C7BN-QD8B. These damages do not account for later Hurricanes Maria (causing widespread damage to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) or Nate (causing flooding along the Mississippi coast). 9. Andreas F. Prein et al., The Future Intensification of Hourly Precipitation Extremes, 7 NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE 48 (2017), https://www.nature.com /nclimate/journal/v7/n1/full/nclimate3168.html. 10. This comment is limited in scope with emphasis on Louisiana. 11. NAT’L WEATHER SERV., supra note 2. 2017] UNAWARE,UNPREPARED, AND UNEXPECTEDLY FLOODED 123 across the region, further delaying recovery efforts.12 In the end, the unnamed storm event took thirteen lives and damaged an estimated 50,000 to 75,000 structures across East Baton Rouge, Ascension, Livingston, and Tangipahoa parishes alone.13 Though touted as a “one-in-a thousand-year flood,” this was the third such event in 2016 to hit the southeastern United States, and one of nine since 2010.14 Governor John Bel Edwards, in a letter to President Barack Obama requesting more disaster relief funding for the 2016 flood, stated: Based on analysis of FEMA’s individual Assistance data, our current estimate of unmet needs in homeowner occupied housing alone is $2.8 billion. Over [fifty percent] of the homes impacted by these floods were not in FEMA’s 100-year floodplain, and [seventy-eight percent] of the impacted homes did not have flood insurance. Some communities have over [eighty percent] of their homes impacted by these floods. And [twenty-five percent] of our impacted residents were renters in a market that was already severely challenged with respect to the availability of affordable housing prior to the floods. Clearly, we need additional funds to provide housing assistance to ensure these communities come back.15 In addition, Louisiana faces increased flood risk along its coastal region from potential storm surge impacts and related coastal storms.16 Across the United States, population density in coastal areas is growing exponentially faster than anywhere else.17 With increased population comes increased construction. Between 2000 and 2010, on average, 1,355 building permits were issued per day in U.S. coastal shoreline counties and 12. Will Sentell, ‘Not Prepared for This’: Motorists Stranded on I-12 Describe Miserable Conditions,THE ADVOCATE, Aug. 14 2016, http://www.theadvocate .com/baton_rouge/article_996eaa62-6237-11e6-87e7-8fbbc5dacbbe.html. 13. What Caused the Historic August 2016 Flood, and What are the Odds it Could Happen Again?,THE ADVOCATE, Aug. 5 2017, http://www.theadvocate .com/louisiana_flood_2016/article_3b7578fc-77b0-11e7-9aab-f7c07d05efcb.html. 14. Id. 15. Letter, supra note 3. 16. Storm Surge Overview,NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER, https://perma.cc/ 676A-3UDF (last visited Sept. 18, 2017). 17. NAT’L OCEANIC &ATMOSPHERIC ADMIN., NATIONAL COASTAL POPULATION REPORT:POPULATION TRENDS FROM 1970 TO 2020 2-3 (2013), https://perma.cc/6DGF-85ZN. Coastal shoreline counties are defined as counties that “are directly adjacent to the open ocean, major estuaries, and the Great Lakes.” Id. p. 2. 124 LSU JOURNAL OF ENERGY LAW AND RESOURCES [Vol. VI parishes.18 According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Louisiana has 2,247,053 residents living in coastal shoreline parishes, making it the fourteenth most populated coastal zone in the country.19 The two 2016 flooding events made clear that inland Louisiana is not exempt from flooding pressures. The Louisiana landscape is cross-cut by a vast network of rivers, bayous, and marshes. Louisiana contains six main ecoregions.20 Each of these ecoregions, with the exception of the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains, provide a nearly flat topography.21 Natural elevations range from below sea level along the coastal zone, to 535 feet in the northern uplands.22 Research released in 2010 reported that 1,095,000 coastal Louisiana residents lived in the 100-year floodplain subject to coastal flooding.23 In other words, Louisianans live in a relatively flat landscape, often near a waterway. As seen by recent events, this combination of factors during a flood can lead to costly and dangerous consequences for local residents. The two 2016 Louisiana flood events ranked nationally as two of the four most expensive floods of the year.24 Flooding in March 2016 led to four deaths in Louisiana25 and a federal major disaster declaration for thirty-six of Louisiana’s sixty-four parishes as a result of severe storms and flooding.26 Then, in August 2016, torrential rains and resultant flooding took the lives of thirteen individuals27 and resulted in a federal 18.